Pats Dominate Jets; Bills, Fins Prepare for Battle
The festivities of Thanksgiving ushered in Week 12 in the AFC East, with the New England Patriots making the short trip south to New Jersey to take on division rivals, the Jets. Fun and joy was experienced by all…not wearing a green jersey that is.
Week 12 continues with Buffalo heading to Indianapolis and Miami hosting Seattle.
New England Patriots 48, New York Jets 19
The Patriots steamrolled the Jets on Thanksgiving night, leaving the New York side in a state of chaos.
For New Englanders, Thanksgiving was a time of joy and festivity. For the green side of New York, those that checked out Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade got a better showing than those supporting the home side at MetLife Stadium.
For the fourth straight week, New England (8-3) piled on the points and outclassed the opposition. Since last beating the Jets in Week 7, Tom Brady and Co. has averaged a ridiculous 47.5 points per game. Apparently there was something in the water when this stint kicked off in London.
Meanwhile, the New York Jets (4-7) lost for the fourth time in five games. The average margin of defeat in those four losses is 18.75, an alarming number.
Bettors taking New England to win straight up and against the spread were well and truly rewarded. New England is now 7-4-0 ATS, while the Jets fall to 5-5-1 ATS.
Those that took the total to go over were smiling also. In fact, the Patriots almost single-handedly pushed the total over, covering 48 of 51 points (at opening), or 48 of 48.5 (at kickoff).
Buffalo Bills (4-6) at Indianapolis Colts (6-4)
Sunday 1PM ET
Buffalo (4-6, 2-4 road) put the brakes on a three-game skid with a 19-14 victory over Miami in a cold upstate New York last week. Now the Bills will look to build some momentum with a win over Indianapolis (6-4, 4-1 home).
The Colts were on the wrong end of a 59-24 drubbing last weekend, victims of the New England point machine. That loss in Foxboro snapped an unthinkable four-game winning streak that had more than a few eyebrows raised. Indianapolis is now 1-2 against the AFC East this season. Conversely, Buffalo is 0-2 against the AFC South.
The Bills will look to its running game – which sees Fred Jackson return alongside C.J. Spiller – to get ahead of the Colts, who rank 22nd in rush defense. Whilst Indianapolis has been firing on offense, thanks to the much-publicized arm of Andrew Luck, the smart thing to do is attack Buffalo on the ground; the Bills are even worse than the Colts at defending the run, ranking second to last in the league (only New Orleans is worse).
Indianapolis enters the game as 3.5-point favorite. The Bills are 5-5-0 ATS this season, while the Colts are 6-4-0 ATS.
Buffalo defeated Indianapolis the last time these two sides met (January 2010), breaking the Colts’ six-game winning streak.
The big difference in this game may prove to be home field advantage. Buffalo’s road woes are well-documented, and the team’s already abysmal road record takes a further nosedive when you realize the Bills have not won in Indianapolis since October 1998.
The over/under is 52. With both teams suspect on defense, the smart money is on the total going over. That being said, whilst Buffalo has seen the total go over 60 percent of the time this season, Indianapolis has only seen it go over in 30 percent of games.
Seattle Seahawks (6-4) at Miami Dolphins (4-6)
Sunday 1PM ET
With Seattle's horrible road record this season, the Miami Dolphins may have something to cheer about as the Seahawks arrive in town.
The Seahawks are a welcome sight for a Miami (4-6, 2-2 home) side that has lost three games in a row.
Whilst Seattle (6-4, 1-4 road) heads to South Florida with a superior record, the team’s ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ antics have produced the most inconsistent home/road record in the entire NFL. Unbeaten at home, the Seahawks have manufactured just one win on the road, a drab 16-12 affair with the Panthers during the first week of October. The Dolphins will like the sound of that.
It gets better for the Fins. The sparse history between these two sides sees Miami with a 9-4 head-to-head edge, including wins in four of the last five and six of the last eight. Miami held on for a 21-19 victory the last time the two sides met (November 2008), with a failed two-point conversion being the difference in score.
Seattle has the worst passing offense (in terms of yards per game) in the league, which is further good news for one of the worst passing defenses in the league; Miami ranks 27th against the pass. Seattle’s strength has been running the football, in which it ranks sixth in the league, while Miami has had success, particularly early in the season, stopping the run. We could be in for a stalemate in this one.
The spread opened even in this one but Seattle has taken a marginal (three-point) lead ahead of kickoff, no doubt on the back of Miami’s poor run of form of late. The Seahawks are an impressive 7-3-0 ATS this season, compared to Miami at 4-5-1 ATS.
The over/under is 38. Seattle has generally seen the total go under (70%) while Miami has seen it go over more often than not (60%). If nothing else is certain about this game, we’re going to need a crowbar to separate the two sides.
